


Apple Leaves

by Crollalanza



Category: In a Heartbeat (Short Film)
Genre: Beginnings, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 04:17:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11683869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crollalanza/pseuds/Crollalanza
Summary: Sherwin knows Jonathan's speaking - he can see his lips move - but he can't make out the words. Is this a dream? Or is it just because Sherwin's heart is thumping extra loud?





	Apple Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> So, I literally saw this short film an hour ago, and I was totally entranced.

Jonathan was talking, Sherwin knew that because he could see his lips moving, and he could hear a low rumble of a voice.

But there were no words he could make out. At first he wondered if perhaps this was a dream and he’d fallen asleep under the tree as he clutched his half-heart. A dream or a nightmare. One of those where the guy sitting next to you is trying to tell you something important but there’s something wrong, and then just as he spills the code, he turns into a dragon and flies away.

 

Or

 

Or

 

Or

 

“Are you okay?”

He got that. Sherwin blinked. Then he surreptitiously pinched himself. Hard.

Ow! 

_But it’s fine. My heart’s whole again, and thudding louder than ever, which could be why I can’t hear a thing.  And Jonathan is here and he’s not laughing at me but looking concerned and -_

Word! He has the most beautiful eyes.

“I ... uh ... it’s Sherwin, isn’t it?”

“He knows my name!”

 _EEK, I said that out loud._ He bit his tongue, trying to stop anymore dumb utterances, but all that did was cause more pain, and he really didn’t think blood dripping from his mouth could be anything but more embarrassing.

“’Course I know your name. Ms Latimer’s always reading your work out to the class,” Jonathan replied. And smiled.

_Oh wow!_

“You ran off and ... uh ... I’m sorry,” Jonathan muttered.

“What for?”

“I figured I must have embarrassed you back there.”

“You ... uh ... n-no, no, not at all. It was ... me. I ... People. The kids. And ... um ... hallways –” His face now burning, Sherwin patted the back of his head, setting another leaf free from his nest of hair. He cleared his throat. “S-sorry. I shouldn’t have run after you like that. It was ... um ...”

“Glad you did,” Jonathan said, and his voice was gruff.  He shuffled his legs up to his chest, and gave Sherwin’s hand another squeeze before releasing him.

_Oh._

Sherwin’s palm felt cold. And clammy. And empty. He stared down at it, willing his cheeks to stop their flush.

Then he felt a touch on his chin, a sliding glance of a thumb, hesitant, removing itself after the merest of seconds.

And fingers in his hair. That were not his own.

“Still have a leaf,” Jonathan explained, spinning it before Sherwin’s eyes.

A bell rang in the distance. Last one before class. Not Ms Latimer’s, sadly, which was the class they shared, but math for Sherwin, and ... well, he had no idea where Jonathan was headed, but he was heaving a sigh and already getting to his feet.

“I have Biology,” he explained. “But ... uh ... would you like to eat lunch after? Together, I mean.”

“Uh... really?”

Jonathan nodded. “C’mon. We better get back, or we’ll get a detention.”

And then, just as he was about to dust off his trousers, he studied the leaf still clutched in his hand. “Apple leaf, I think?” he murmured.

“Ha, yeah, I was climbing!” Sherwin explained.

“I like apples. Lunch then?”

“I’d like that,” Sherwin replied, and scrambled to his feet. “We should go.”

But instead of letting the leaf drop to the floor before they ran to class, Jonathan wasted a few more seconds and placed it in his top blazer pocket.

Just above his heart.


End file.
